Hansen defends ABs

Steve Hansen, left

think [he] should have been yellow-carded, and nor do I think Ofa should have been yellow-carded either,’’ Hansen said.

"Our game is really fluid, there’s movement in it, and when you get two guys coming in to make a tackle on one, things can change late.’’

Hansen had viewed the match twice in the aftermath and explained the incident from his viewpoint.

‘‘Sammy made the tackle and Ofa ended up accidentally hitting him in the face with his shoulder. There’s no intention to hurt him. All three got head knocks. Sam got an elbow to the face from the French guy and he might have got Ofa’s head as well, so Ofa was causing a bit of carnage.

‘‘When the game is fluid like it is and players change their angle late and you’ve committed . . . it’s difficult to get out of the way. So it was accidental.’’

English referee Luke Pearce agreed with Hansen’s assessment at the time, adjudicating that Grosso had dipped into the tackle.

But Hansen felt he should have looked closer at the yellow card to Gabrillagues after replays showed the hit was not as serious as first appearances indicated.

‘‘Overall I thought he did a pretty good job. Did he get all the decisions right? No. But we’ve been here before, haven’t we, when referees don’t always get the decisions right, and you’ve got to live with that.’’

It’s understood Brunel also softened his stance on the Grosso incident yesterday, telling French reporters that after viewing further angles of the play he thought it was ‘‘accidental’’.

Tu’ungafasi also sent out a message to Grosso on Twitter, saying ‘‘it wasn’t my intention to hurt you. I’m also gutted that I didn’t get to see u after the game and u weren’t well for me to visit u in hospital this morning before we left’’.

The All Blacks coach also shrugged off continued suggestions his side embraces illegal tactics.

‘‘We’ve been called cheats for 100 years, and if you keep winning people have got to find reasons. Like Richie McCaw was the biggest ‘cheat’ ever, but he didn’t cheat. He just played to the letter of the law.

‘‘You’ve just got to roll with that stuff and not take too much notice of it,’’ Hansen said.